The Supercup. It was played in two legs late in the year – in November and December of 1989, so Milan and Barcelona faced each other with their 1989-90 teams. Milan was without Gullit (injured), but Barcelona was with Ronald Coeman and Laudrup. Cruijff already had made Barca stronger, but this trophy was always secondary and it is difficult how much mattered for Barcelona – Cruijff did not field his key stars in the second leg, for instance. Instead of Coeman and Laudrup reserves played and Eusebio was moved from defense to midfield. Still Barca was too strong and although Milan prevailed, it was by just one goal – 1-1 in Barcelona and 1-0 at home.
1st Leg, Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona, 23 Nov 1989, att 50000
FC Barcelona (0) 1 AC Milan (1) 1
44′ 0-1 M: Van Basten pen
67′ 1-1 B: Amor
FC Barcelona
Zubizarreta; Aloisio, Koeman, Serna, Eusebio, Milla, Baquero,
Amor, Laudrup, Salinas (Roberto 65), Beguiristain
AC Milan
Galli; Salvatore, Maldini, Fuser, Tassotti, Costacurta, Donadoni
(Stroppa 84), Rijkaard, Van Basten, Evani, Massaro (Simone 88)
Referee: Quiniou (France)
2nd Leg, San Siro Stadium, Milan, 7 Dec 1989, att 50000
AC Milan (0) 1 FC Barcelona (0) 0
55′ 1-0 M: Evani
Milan won 2-1 on aggregate
AC Milan
Galli; Carobbi, Maldini, Fuser, Tassotti, Costacurta, Donadoni,
Rijkaard, Van Basten, Evani, Massaro (Simone 65)
FC Barcelona
Zubizarreta; Lopez Recarte (Onesimo 74), Alesanco, Milla, Serena,
Roberto, Baquero, Jordi Roura (Soler 10), Eusebio, Salinas,
Bequiristain
Referee: Kohl (Austria)
Barcelona lost, but it is questionable how seriously Cruijff took the Supercup challenge. May be this trophy was not important for Barca, hard to tell. Yet, even with weakened team in the second leg they lost only by one goal to mighty Milan, which was good to note.
Milan, to a large degree, won the Supercup in the first leg in Barcelona – they were leading and the only thing Barca could do was to equalize.
Then it was mostly a question who really wanted the trophy – Milan, apparently wanted it more and at home managed to win. May be not much, but it was the first Supercup Milan won, one more trophy to display and, most importantly, this was the year Sacchi’s team established itself as really great one: they won all international competitions they played in, even when they were unable to use Ruud Gullit.